Monthly Archives: December 2013

Amongst all the hustle and bustle of this time of year, we must remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.
Take some time to sit down with your family and read them the Christmas story.
(I apologize ahead of time if you find any spelling errors. I typed all this manually so that I could soak it all in one word at a time)

Luke 1: 26-38
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, The Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in they womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
For with God nothing is impossible.
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of The Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Matthew 1:18-25
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of The Lord appeared unto him in a dream , saying, Joseph thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
And she shall bring forth a son, and though shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of The Lord by the prophet, saying,
Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanual, which being interpreted is, God with us.
Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of The Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
And knew her not til she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Luke 2:1-21
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said on to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Matthew 2:1-12
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of these shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, til it came and stood over where the young child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Here are some other scriptures pertaining to the birth of Jesus…

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore The Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

John 1:14
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:17
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that they world through him might be saved.

Like this:

I am still learning all that can be done with my WordPress website.
Like how to add pages or tabs to the site that are available to you at anytime.
Today I’ve added new pages for pictures and resources.

I enjoy taking pictures and would like to share with them with you through this website.
The first pictures added are from a recent trip to Charleston.
All of these pictures were taken with an iPhone 5S and are unedited. I was impressed with how they came out.
The picture above was taken while walking down the streets of Charleston.
You are welcome to use any that you like for whatever reason you may have.
I’ll be adding more so come back often to check for updates.

The resources pages is something that I plan to continually add to as well.
I want to be able to share with you things that have been helpful to me.
These will be available at any time at the top of the page.

Another page that I hope to add soon is a list of recommended books to read.

Check things out and let me know what you think.
If you find anything that you feel may be helpful to someone else please share.

This week we made a conscience decision to discontinue our cable TV service.
It was an easy decision for Becky and I, but difficult for the kids to absorb.
In this article I will share why we cut the cable and later will share how we were able to adapt and survive. 🙂

Why?
First of all, our cable provider, Charter, decided to go all digital and require setup boxes for each TV in the house.
$6 per month per box! When you have several TVs in the house that adds up. On top of that they increased our cable bill 20% without any heads up or warning at all.

We are budget minded people and do not watch enough TV to justify paying that kind of money for it.
There has always been a no TV rule in our house Monday through Thursdays because of school and with youth activities on Fridays the TV is not used most of the week anyhow. So I made the call and on Monday they came and cut the cable.
Our Charter bill will drop from $185/month to $69.99 per month for just phone and internet. That is over $100 per month in savings!!

Second of all, I actually look forward to seeing how we will adapt.
It feels good in a sense to be one of the weird, abnormal guys without TV service.
Maybe we’ll spend more time outside, playing music or reading.
I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

The most difficult part about cutting the cable will be losing ESPN and Disney. My boys and I enjoy watching college football together on Saturdays and my youngest’ favorite shows are on Disney. We also enjoy the Duck Dynasty series.
When I first broke the news to the kids, it was not taken easily, especially knowing that there are Bowl games coming up and most of them are on ESPN, but sometimes tough decisions have to be made for the better of the household.

I already have some ideas on how to adapt and still be able to catch some sports and Disney shows, but I’ll save that for a future article.

How about you? Do you have cable?
If so, have you ever considered cutting it in order to save money?
I would love to hear from your experiences.